What May I Eat Before Surgery?
While you may eat normally and take your routinely prescribed medications the day and evening before surgery, do not eat or drink anything - not even a sip of water - after midnight the night before your surgery unless specifically directed by your physician. This is vital for your safety since any stomach contents can be potentially life-threatening. Please watch your child carefully to ensure that this requirement is followed. You may brush your teeth and rinse your mouth provided nothing is swallowed.
Infants under one year of age should not have food or milk after midnight. They may have sugar water or apple juice until four hours before surgery, but nothing thereafter.
What Should I Wear?
- Wear casual, loose fitting clothing that can easily be folded. Evergreen Surgical Center provides clothing to be worn during the surgery itself.
- To help prevent infection, bathe or shower especially carefully in the morning and wear fresh apparel.
- Please do not wear any makeup.
- Contact lenses cannot be worn to surgery. Please bring your case and solution with you.
- Please leave all valuables, including watches, rings, and other jewelry at home.
- Please bring in a list of all the medications you are regularly taking.
When Should I Arrive?
For most procedures, we require that you arrive 1 hour (1.5 hours for cataract surgery) before the time your surgery is scheduled to begin. It is important for you to arrive promptly to allow adequate time for pre-surgical preparation. This includes our admission and orientation procedures, laboratory testing, physician examination and administration of any medications that might be needed before surgery.
The Evergreen Surgical Center staff, your surgeon and anesthesiologist have all reserved your surgery time especially for you. In consideration of other patients and staff, we may be required to cancel surgery for late arrivals.
What Should We Tell Our Child?
Children do especially well at Evergreen Surgical Center because we are able to minimize separation between a child and his parents. To prepare your child for a positive experience at Evergreen Surgical Center, please be sure to discuss your child's surgery with him or her in a relaxed, straightforward manner without mentioning any unpleasant experiences such as needle injections or pain. Modern anesthetic techniques should enable your child to have a comfortable experience, but fear of the unknown or expectation of pain can undermine these techniques.
It is a good idea to bring in one favorite object or toy.
If your child uses a bottle, please bring an empty one with you.
For your child's safety, remember the dietary restrictions already noted.
What If I'm Pregnant?
If there is any possibility you may be pregnant, be sure to notify your surgeon and obstetrician in advance. Also tell your anesthesiologist during the pre-operative evaluation. Certain medications and anesthetics are potentially harmful to the developing fetus, especially during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
While You're Here
We encourage all our patients to have one friend or relative stay with them at Evergreen Surgical Center. Due to space limitations, however, we ask that only one or two visitors accompany each patient. Please make arrangements to leave small children at home. They are not permitted in the recovery lounge and there are no child care facilities.
Minors (under age 18) must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who can sign the consent form. Legal guardians should bring proof of guardianship.
Every patient receiving a general or regional anesthetic of any kind will require the assistance of a responsible adult for transportation home and for 24 hours following surgery. No surgery will be performed unless these arrangements have been made. Patients whose surgery necessitated use of sedation do not leave Evergreen Surgical Center without an escort. If you have received only a local anesthetic without sedation, you need not have an escort. Patients undergoing cataract surgery require an escort no matter what type of anesthetic was used.
You will be discharged from Evergreen Surgical Center when it is medically safe to leave. Since the length of your stay depends on the nature of your operation and your own individual response to the anesthetic and surgery, it is difficult to predict in advance exactly when you will be able to return home. In general, however, the average length of stay at Evergreen Surgical Center is four hours from the time you arrive. We can give you a more accurate estimate of your length of stay when you register.